New tools for Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) in the agri-food chain
13 October 2009
Microbial food safety has emerged to be a global concern. In response to the increasing number of food borne illnesses, governments all over the world are intensifying their efforts to improve food safety. Regulations forced food business operators in the agri?food chain to design and implement a Food Safety Management System (FSMS) in order to control the outbreaks of food borne illnesses.
Nowadays, several Quality Assurance (QA) standards are available, like ISO 22000:2005, International Food Standard (IFS, 2007), Global Standard for Food Safety (BRC, 2008), which are specifically developed for food (processing) industries and against which certification is possible (often demanded by retailers).
A big challenge for food business operators is to translate and to implement these requirements into company’s specific FSMS, in order to control and assure food safety and in many cases also food quality. A company specific FSMS should be a translation of Good Hygienic Practices (GHP), Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point principles (HACCP), management policies, traceability and recall requirements into the company specific setting.
The performance of FSMS in practice is, however, still variable, and attention is shifting from implementing QA standards and guidelines to better understanding the performance of the implemented FSMS. As a consequence, various audit tools have been developed to determine the performance towards QA standards, but they basically check on compliance to the set requirements, for instance, during internal or external auditing, but give no systematic insight in the FSMS performance within the unique context of a company.
Within the EU project PathogenCombat, new tools are developed to measure the performance of the current Food Safety Management System (FSMS) in a company. Based on these measurements, bottlenecks or weak points in a current FSMS can be identified. New tools are also developed within PathogenCombat to support the improvement of the performance of the current FSMS in a company. These tools, their interpretation and usefulness will be illustrated during the workshop. QA/QC managers, food safety authorities or other stakeholders can apply these tools to measure, to benchmark and/or to improve the current FSMS present in the agri?food chain.
Topics covered in the workshop will be:
• New tools and instruments developed within PathogenCombat
• Application and outcome of tools developed within PathogenCombat
• Supporting tools to improve food safety management systems
The workshop is addressed mainly to food business operators, industry associations, and competent authorities in Belgium and the Netherlands. Workshop language will be Dutch; the slides are prepared in English.PathogenCombat a project of the EU Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), consists of a consortium of 44 partners in 17 countries. In this project, universities, research institutes and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) cooperate closely.
In a holistic and interdisciplinary way, the project concentrates on research and control of new and emerging food borne pathogens. PathogenCombat contributes strongly to improve the effectiveness and uniformity in reducing the prevalence of pathogens along the food chain in Europe.
Nowadays, several Quality Assurance (QA) standards are available, like ISO 22000:2005, International Food Standard (IFS, 2007), Global Standard for Food Safety (BRC, 2008), which are specifically developed for food (processing) industries and against which certification is possible (often demanded by retailers).
A big challenge for food business operators is to translate and to implement these requirements into company’s specific FSMS, in order to control and assure food safety and in many cases also food quality. A company specific FSMS should be a translation of Good Hygienic Practices (GHP), Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point principles (HACCP), management policies, traceability and recall requirements into the company specific setting.
The performance of FSMS in practice is, however, still variable, and attention is shifting from implementing QA standards and guidelines to better understanding the performance of the implemented FSMS. As a consequence, various audit tools have been developed to determine the performance towards QA standards, but they basically check on compliance to the set requirements, for instance, during internal or external auditing, but give no systematic insight in the FSMS performance within the unique context of a company.
Within the EU project PathogenCombat, new tools are developed to measure the performance of the current Food Safety Management System (FSMS) in a company. Based on these measurements, bottlenecks or weak points in a current FSMS can be identified. New tools are also developed within PathogenCombat to support the improvement of the performance of the current FSMS in a company. These tools, their interpretation and usefulness will be illustrated during the workshop. QA/QC managers, food safety authorities or other stakeholders can apply these tools to measure, to benchmark and/or to improve the current FSMS present in the agri?food chain.
Topics covered in the workshop will be:
• New tools and instruments developed within PathogenCombat
• Application and outcome of tools developed within PathogenCombat
• Supporting tools to improve food safety management systems
The workshop is addressed mainly to food business operators, industry associations, and competent authorities in Belgium and the Netherlands. Workshop language will be Dutch; the slides are prepared in English.PathogenCombat a project of the EU Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), consists of a consortium of 44 partners in 17 countries. In this project, universities, research institutes and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) cooperate closely.
In a holistic and interdisciplinary way, the project concentrates on research and control of new and emerging food borne pathogens. PathogenCombat contributes strongly to improve the effectiveness and uniformity in reducing the prevalence of pathogens along the food chain in Europe.